American Indians in the 20th Century TIME LINE 1870s-1890s Final defeat. Americans segregated onto reservations. Demoralized. Starving. Neglected. Punished. 1871 Indian Appropriations Act. US says it will no longersign treaties, will legislate; claims authority over Native Americans1876 Battle of Little Big Horn (Custer, Crazy Legs)1887 General Allotment Act. Whites can buy reservation land,over half is lost to whites. “Checkerboarded” reservations withwhite landowners a major problem in the 20th & 21st centuries.1890 massacre at Wounded Knee; threat of the Ghost Dance1907 Oklahoma admitted as a US state. Full bloods oftenrefuse to participate, withdraw, starve1920s-1940s. Reformers. White anthropologists, missionaries andsome others become allies. Some educated "Indians" have theability to launch political challenges, form alliances withsympathetic whites. Studies reveal desperation on the reservations. Political battles over white rights to reservation lands. Somesuccesses.1924 US Congress "grants" US citizenship to all AmericanIndians. This is not generally appreciated.1932 Protestant churches join the reform movement.1934 Indian Reorganization Act. Reformist but colonial. Self-government but on US terms. Some recognition of religiousfreedom.1941-5 WWII. Join military, sense of potency. Gaineducation, educational weaknesses revealed.1944 National Congress of American Indians1946 Indian Claims Commission. Supposed to settle in 5 yearsat 19th century value, deduct BIA “service charges”Sociology 220 lecture notes1950s The counter-movement. Some oppose tolerance of nativereligion. Termination=eliminate legal status as tribes. “Freedom”= forced assimilation, no special status. “Encouraged” to move tocities. Over half become urban.1960s. Effects of Civil Rights Movement. Since of possibility. Heightened awareness of ethnic difference. New tactics.1964 Washington Fish-in, exercising 1854 treaty right1964 Supreme Court rules in favor of treaties1969 Occupation of Alcatraz1969-74 US government settles land claims, prefers to dealwith moderates1972 AIM formed1973 battle of Wounded Knee II1975 Council of Energy Resource tribes, modeled after OPEC. Get large settlements, used for economic development.1982 still over 100 million acres of land worth billions ofdollars tied up in land claim disputes. After 1960s, courts generallyback native claims. 1988 1/3 of BIA schools still boarding schools. Very lowcollege enrollments: 5/1000 for natives, vs. 80/1000 for blacks and825/1000 for whites.1990sCasino gambling. Congressional law. Economic developmentfor a few. Debates about value.Strategies for economic developmentHeightened cultural awareness. Pow-wows.Sports team symbols.Scandal of BIA mismanagement of trust
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